Run Astral's development server with:
mix astral.dev
Open the printed URL, or ask Astral to open it:
mix astral.dev --open
Options
mix astral.dev --config astral.config.exs --host localhost --port 4000
The default port is 4000. Use --open to open the printed URL in your browser.
What the server does
The development server:
- serves Astral routes,
- serves files from
public/, - delegates browser assets and HMR endpoints to
Volt.DevServer, - injects Volt's HMR client into rendered HTML,
- watches pages, layouts, components, and public files,
- invalidates rendered pages after file changes,
- renders HTML error pages for Markdown, layout, template, and config failures.
HMR and reloads
Volt handles browser asset HMR. Astral triggers full reloads for site-layer files such as pages, layouts, components, and public files.
Use plain browser JavaScript for static-site interactivity. .astral templates render static HTML; they do not imply LiveView server events.
Asset sessions and islands
Astral supervises one Volt session and attaches its asset Plug to that session. The session owns compilation state, stylesheet workers, and filesystem watching; page rendering does not start another watcher or compile Tailwind.
Island browser entries are virtual modules shared by component and adapter. Props and hydration directives belong to individual HTML instances.
Build preview
mix astral.dev previews source files and updates as you edit. To check deploy output, run:
mix astral.build
Then serve the generated dist/ directory with any static file server. A static preview shows the site exactly as it was when you last built it; later source edits require another build.